MOT Pass!

[bmcecosse]

Which is what I intended Matt - but I had looked in a few other boxes first!

[drivewasher]

Which is ok if you keep your thumbs out of the way...... The ball splitter is much nicer/easier - I just hadn't seen mine for a LONG time, since I gave up Minis 8 years ago! It was of course in my 'handy tools' box - the last place I looked..... :Thanks for all the tips and leads. The MOT wheels are standard wheels with very good 145 tyres...the 'running' wheels are Van type with 155 tyres with rather less tread (but still legal) which I am trying to wear out! If I leave them on for MOT I get an 'advisory' because they want to sell me new tyres!

Thats a bit naughty if they r trying to sell you tyres.
As you know BMC the legal limit is 1.6mm acroos the centre 3/4 of the tread area. Advisorys are put on as a "get the tester out out of jail card" if something were to happen and it was in relation to a recently tested item and that item had been advised them the Vehicle Examiner (VE) would see it had been spotted.
A car (merc C class) came in for test a few weeks ago, it FAILED on track rod end, rear indicators white (wrong colour) and corroded brake pipes. Advisorys issed on both rear tyres as lowest spots we could find were 1.8mm so couldn't fail them.
Right on his 10 days he comes back for a free retest, I had to check any advisorys given on the fail and if still an advice put em on his pass cert. 1 of the rear tyres FAILED less than 1.6mm so a refusall of cert was issued. He wasn't pleased. But the car had done over 800 miles in the 10 days since the origonal test
Now imagine a serious accident involving that car if it had passed on first presentation, (he hadn't changed the tyre before a retest why would he do it if it had passed).
So if tyres wern't advised then mr Vosa & pc plodd would come looking for the tester with a set of handcuffs.

The big discussion in our garage is when do items start being advisory? play in ball joints and deteriorating boots, corrosion etc is pretty definite, but tyre & brake pads. Do you advise them if they only done 50 mile? because they will have worn. No that would be silly. Brake pads are 1.5mm friction material minimum thickness I tend to advice them when the friction material is the same thickness as the steel backing pad. I advice tyres when the tread gets about 3mm as thats when grip on wet roads is greatly reduced.

Remember MoT pass standard is MINIMUM req items consider a brand new vehicle's maintenance standard to be 100% then a good servicing regime would stand at about 60 to 80% the MoT standard in comparison is 20%
The MoT should not be used as a guide to good servicing as is not!

[bmcecosse]

Yes -I think the running tyres may be getting close to 3mm on the shoulders. He knows I'm not going to buy tyres from him...I've been going there for years and years and he knows he never gets any 'work' from me - in fact I joke about 'where's my work list' and he jokes about how quickly I will have the car back for the retest. In this case 3 hours - mainly because I had my lunch before starting to look for the boot - and the splitter. Interestingly - the initial 'fail' included two advisories about 'slight wear in the track rod ends - both sides. I check the one where I was changing the boot and it is perfect - I didn't even look at the other side since I knew it was 'ok' when I checked it pre MOT. And the Pass certificate issued - doesn't now include the advisories !

[Chipper]

A car (merc C class) came in for test a few weeks ago, it FAILED... 1 of the rear tyres FAILED less than 1.6mm so a refusall of cert was issued. He wasn't pleased. But the car had done over 800 miles in the 10 days since the origonal test.

Could he not have simply fitted the spare, or was that worn too?

[drivewasher]

Spacesaver.

Most Mercs have wider wheels on the back axle than the front so they have a temporary fitment space saver

[Chipper]

Pah! The good old Mercedes 190E (the C-class's predecessor) came with a full-size spare.

Presumably, you won't pass a car with a space-saver fitted?

[drivewasher]

Pah! The good old Mercedes 190E (the C-class's predecessor) came with a full-size spare.

Presumably, you won't pass a car with a space-saver fitted?

The tyres across an axle have to be the same size and aspect ratio and of course type of structure. So a space saver or a smaller steel wheel fitted as a spare will fail. I would advice the presenter before loging car on for test that it would fail for the tyre.